Second Graders Raise $380 for HuskyTHON, With Help From Neag School
Josh Marriner Hopes To Have Made A Difference At UConn
Suspensions Down in Greenwich Schools; Minorities Disciplined at Disproportionate Rate
Greenwich Time (Tamika La Salle quoted)
UConn Plans Learning Community to Support Academic Efforts of Black Men
Opening New Vistas for Talented Kids
‘Playing it Out’: LGBT Issues in Sport
Whether it’s the MLB, NFL, or NHL, the world of sports has been cast as a hypermasculine, hypercompetitive environment. While this atmosphere may build toughness and encourage physical fitness, its acceptance toward athletes who identify with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is still in need of practice.
Neag School faculty member Laura Burton is working to change the athletic world’s perception of LGBT athletes – starting with her own students. The sport management associate professor says change must be implemented in every level of sport. LGBT issues in sport is a key topic in her Introduction to Sport Management and Management of Sport Services courses.
From the time children begin playing sports, Burton says, they are often exposed to language that is negatively charged toward LGBT individuals, but unfortunately commonplace in athletics. For example, parents and coaches may find it acceptable to call kids “fags.”
“We need to educate parents and coaches to watch their language to make the environment more supportive and welcoming, so it’s safer for kids to come out,” Burton says.
A supportive environment is what Burton discovered to be the winning recipe in the coming out of LGBT athletes. One of her research studies, titled “Playing it Out: Female Intercollegiate Athletes’ Experiences in Revealing their Sexual Identities,” studied “out” lesbian or bisexual female intercollegiate athletes. The qualitative study, which comprised in-depth interviews with 14 athletes, found it was easier for athletes to come out if other teammates had previously done so. It also discovered that once athletes were out, female teammates were generally accepting – a reaction that took many of the “out” athletes by surprise, but led to greater happiness afterward.
Similar research was conducted at Texas A&M University surrounding workplace culture and LGBT employees in college athletics. In alignment with Burton’s study, a 2015 research paper titled “Creating and Sustaining Workplace Cultures Supportive of LGBT employees in College Athletics” concluded athletic departments with more diverse and welcoming climates were more successful. LGBT employees who could express their true identities and had employees who celebrated those identities had a positive and successful work experience.
‘Lean into the discomfort’
As essential as acceptance is to creating a pro-LGBT environment, Milagros Castillo-Montoya, a Neag School assistant professor of higher education and student affairs, says mere acceptance of LGBT individuals is not enough. In her Leading Toward a Multicultural Educational Environment course, she and her graduate students discuss issues of difference in higher education, including sexual orientation. An early component of the course is analyzing the effect a campus’ culture has on LGBT students.
This means individuals should not only be accepting of LGBT peers, but also able to discuss their identity differences in an honest but noncombative manner. Castillo-Montoya encourages students to first become self-aware and consider their own multiple identities – both the privileged and the marginalized. She uses what is called the LARA Method to teach students the process of effective dialogue: listen, affirm, respond, and ask more questions. With this approach, students can engage in more truthful and meaningful conversations about different identities, such as sexual orientation, race, religion, and ability.
“I ask students to lean in to the discomfort of having conversations across differences,” she says. “They learn to confront the idea, not the person. By doing this in a classroom setting, they build the capacity to talk about and through differences.”
Coming Out in Professional Sports
Transitioning from the classroom to sport, Burton says publicizing one’s LGBT identity can be easier once professional athletes get the ball rolling. When Bryant University men’s basketball coach Chris Burns this fall revealed to USA Today he was gay, the news was welcomed by the public. As he was already well-regarded, Burns’ image did not change.
“People say, ‘Oh, I like him, he’s a good guy; I know him,’” Burton says. “When athletes or coaches at the professional level [come out], it trickles down to the youth level.”
Burton says this trickle-down effect makes the process of coming out seem more attainable and acceptable to college, high school, and youth athletes. She also referenced the U.S. women’s soccer team, which had three players and one coach publicly out at the 2015 World Cup.
“Differences make us stronger as a team.”
– Jenny Gobin ’14 (ED), UConn women’s ultimate Frisbee team coach
Such an inclusive environment has been found in UConn women’s athletics, too. Jenny Gobin ’14 (ED), a graduate of the Neag School’s sport management program who now works for ESPN, has experienced firsthand the power of supportive teammates in making LGBT athletes feel not only accepted, but normal. As an “out” lesbian, Gobin says she was treated just like any other student while at UConn, where she was a student manager of the women’s basketball team and a founder of the ultimate Frisbee club. Today, as the coach for the UConn women’s ultimate Frisbee team – a national contender on the club sports scene – Gobin continues to work closely with lesbian and bisexual athletes.
“We just have to be aware of [differences] and make them seem normal,” she says. “Differences make us stronger as a team.”
However, publicizing one’s sexual identity is at times met with varying reactions based on gender. In an environment where a “macho” mentality is the norm, the process of coming out for male athletes is associated with a legitimate, physical fear of being perceived as incapable or weak. Female athletes don’t face this same fear of ostracization because being lesbian isn’t seen contradictory to being a successful athlete.
LGBT in Sports at UConn
Although Burton says most athletes wait until after college to come out, she’s found UConn to be a safe, supportive environment for those who choose to do so.
“UConn has become a more welcoming place for LGBT athletes and those who are LGBT in the athletic department,” Burton says. “I haven’t heard of negative responses.”
There are resources on campus for LGBT student-athletes, as well as those who aren’t athletes, including athletics support groups, the Rainbow Center, and various cultural centers. UConn’s cultural centers, Castillo-Montoya notes, frequently engage with University faculty regarding all forms of marginalized identities, including the LGBT and student-athlete populations, and are intended to better prepare faculty to lead effective dialogues with their students.
However, Gobin says many athletes prefer to look for support from those they trust most – their teammates and coaches.
“I had an athlete who told me the reason she came out was because of the ultimate [Frisbee] community,” she says. “It’s welcoming, open, and progressive.”
An area that requires more focus, however, is that of bisexual and transgender athletes. Research regarding these identities is less developed than that of gay and lesbian identities. Burton says bisexual individuals experience a sense of invisibility, as they are caught between heterosexual and homosexual identities.
For transgender athletes, questions regarding athletic eligibility are at the forefront of discussion – within the past five years, the NCAA has implemented policies regarding these athletes. Current NCAA policy allows trans male (FTM) athletes to compete for men’s teams, but not women’s teams. Trans female (MTF) must continue to compete on a men’s team.
Gobin recalls an ultimate game in which UConn was playing Smith, an all-women’s college. Smith’s team had one trans male player; because the game was at the club level, the transgender athlete was eligible to play.
“It was interesting and enlightening for my players,” Gobin says. “We had never had that experience before, so it was good to expose that to them.”
Tackling LGBT issues that occur both on and off the playing field has allowed Burton and Castillo-Montoya’s students to become more aware of themselves and of others. Castillo-Montoya’s students write reflections throughout the semester, a “satisfying” indicator of their transforming ability to discuss sensitive subjects regarding diversity.
Meanwhile, Burton reminds her students they must keep in mind that the LGBT community is one of many groups impacting decision-making when it comes to implementing policies in sport and sport management. By representing this community on a level playing field with other groups, more equitable policies will be made.
Neag School’s Erik Hines to Head Up New UConn Residential Learning Community for African-American Males
UConn’s Office of First Year Programs and Learning Communities as well as faculty in the Neag School of Education are in the final stages of opening a new residential Learning Community for African-American males, intended to increase these students’ graduation rates and graduate and/or professional school placement.
UConn’s Learning Community Program, which currently houses about 2,500 undergraduate students across 17 distinct Learning Communities, provides undergraduate students with opportunities to investigate specific areas of interest together through guided courses and co-curricular activities, while assisting them in their transition to academic life.
ScHOLA2RS House – which will be UConn’s 18th Learning Community – is slated to launch this fall to prepare African-American males for success during their undergraduate and post-baccalaureate careers. Making its home in the new NextGen CT residence hall, ScHOLA2RS House will guide 40 Huskies from all fields of study as they prepare for the future by engaging them in faculty and peer mentorship, undergraduate research, career development, Study Abroad, and graduate and/or professional school preparatory opportunities. Erik Hines, assistant professor of educational psychology in the Neag School, will serve as the new Learning Community’s faculty director.
ScHOLA2RS House will guide 40 Huskies from all fields of study as they prepare for the future by engaging them in faculty and peer mentorship, undergraduate research, career development, Study Abroad, and graduate and/or professional school preparatory opportunities.
Building Connections
Although retention and graduation rates at UConn are high – 82.5 percent of students graduate in six years[1] – there has not been support in place designed specifically for African-American male students. Not only are these students least represented on campus, but they also have the lowest retention and graduation rates, says Hines. In 2012, only 54 percent of African-Americans males graduated in six years, the lowest of any racial group at UConn.
Hines says it is not an issue of whether African-American males have the capability to excel in school; rather, it is their environment that sometimes inhibits their potential. At many predominantly white institutions nationwide, he says, elements of African-American culture are harder to find, which can make some students experience a sense of detachment from their universities.
“African-American males already know they have the potential [to succeed],” Hines says. “It’s about facilitating programmatic activities that engage their potential and that they can incorporate into the daily grind of college.”
The mission of ScHOLA2RS House – which stands for Scholastic House of Leaders who are African-American Researchers and Scholars – is not, however, meant to exclude or segregate African-American males from the rest of the community. According to David Ouimette, executive director for UConn’s Learning Communities, its goal is to build connections among members and within the greater University community.
Groundwork for Success
Members of ScHOLA2RS House, which may include students with racial identities besides African-American, will embark on a two-year course of programs intended to ensure their undergraduate success and prepare them for graduate/professional school. According to Hines, the community’s only required components are the willingness to be prepared for graduate/professional school, and completion of undergraduate research and a first-year experience course focusing on career development, navigating the University, and solving grand challenges.
Other opportunities available to ScHOLA2RS House students include a speaker series with distinguished African-American male faculty from UConn, including the law and medical schools. There will also be graduate-school preparation, field trips to top graduate schools across the country, and Study Abroad excursions – all of which are free for ScHOLA2RS House residents.
Hines says African-American males are less likely to study abroad than other college students, but these experiences are important in developing effective leaders and problem solvers.
“We want them to have those experiences that are global. We want to have global leaders, men that take on those challenges in our complex world,” he says. “We want problem solvers – that’s what we’re having kids go to school to become.”
Perhaps just as important as the formal research and course requirements are the informal discussion sessions that Hines says he plans to hold about twice a month. The discussions will revolve around issues and happenings at UConn as well as topics relevant to the African-American male identity.
“Members will get the opportunity to talk about what they’re facing every single day,” Ouimette adds. “It’s about having a social community network in which they can support each other, but one that also pushes them back out to the community so they can integrate into it and explore.”
For more information about ScHOLA2RS House, contact Erik Hines at erik.hines@uconn.edu. Watch a video about ScHOLA2RS House here.
[1] 2012
Students of Color, Neag School Faculty Partner to Boost Diversity Among Aspiring Educators
Growing up in New Canaan, Conn., aspiring educator Lexi Bodick ’16 (ED) attended public school, where she says she learned from white teachers alongside her predominantly white peers. While classmates playfully referred to Bodick as “exotic,” as she identifies as half-white, half-Mexican-American, Bodick says she felt that the absence of classroom diversity stifled her Mexican-American identity, allowing only the “white part” of her to shine through.
“Representation matters,” she says. “[At New Canaan High School], I didn’t get to have those personal interactions with others of color, so I wasn’t able to share and relate as much.”
Now a senior music and music education major in the Neag School, Bodick says UConn has not only exposed her to a wide range of people and experiences – but also inspired her to get involved with fellow students of color, encouraging them to consider becoming educators, too, through a student organization called Leadership In Diversity (L.I.D.). Bodick was one of the organization’s original members, along with IB/M curriculum and instruction student Tracey-Ann Lafayette ’15 (ED), the founder and current president.
The primary objective of L.I.D., Lafayette says, is to give students a place to discuss diversity issues that surface in the classroom – conversations that can be difficult to have.
“At UConn, people aren’t always comfortable having conversations about diversity. We need to find out how can we get to a place where people are comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Lafayette says. “L.I.D. works to promote these conversations.”
In addition to holding discussions on diversity issues, L.I.D. works with Neag School faculty advisors and academic advisors who help the organization’s members with school and job application processes, and hold workshops to coach students on developing strong interviewing skills. These initiatives aim to increase confidence among UConn’s students of color in reaching their academic or career goals in the field of education – whether that be acceptance into the Neag School of Education, pursuit of graduate school, or a first-time teaching job.
In Connecticut, student diversity is rapidly increasing while the level of diversity among teachers remains stagnant. Nearly 40 percent of Connecticut students are of color, compared with just 8 percent of the state’s teachers.
‘A new world of possibilities’
Faculty advisor and assistant clinical professor Mark Kohan says an important part of L.I.D. is recruiting students of color to education programs. This is especially vital in Connecticut, where student diversity is rapidly increasing while the level of diversity among teachers remains stagnant. Recent data from the State Education Resource Center indicates that nearly 40 percent of Connecticut students are of color, compared with just 8 percent of the state’s teachers. Meanwhile, Connecticut has one of the largest achievement gaps in the nation.
Teachers of color can enhance success for both white and nonwhite students, Lafayette says. For instance, learning from nonwhite teachers is an opportunity that allows white students to foster positive relationships with people of color. For students of color, research has found that teachers of color tend to hold them to higher standards than do white teachers. At the same time, teachers of color may serve as an inspiration to their minority students.
“It’s helpful for students to see, ‘Here’s someone who looks like me, so I can do this, too,’” Lafayette says. “It opens up a new world of possibilities.”
L.I.D. members are actively working with the Neag School academic advising team to boost diversity in the school of education’s student body. The process of encouraging students of color to become teachers now extends to the high school level, with visits to local schools by the academic advising team and on-campus partnership events that the Neag School academic advisors help facilitate in collaboration with L.I.D. The team also holds recruitment sessions offered at each cultural center on the Storrs campus and all four regional campuses. The admissions process, especially that of the IB/M teacher education program, has been altered as well, with deadlines to submit scores for the PRAXIS exam – the assessment required for entry into the teacher preparation program – having been pushed back. PRAXIS Core study groups, intended to support students in successfully passing the exam, are also being held by Neag School academic advisors Dominique Battle-Lawson and Mia Hines. Kohan says this allows for all students, particularly minorities, to have sufficient time to prepare their best application possible.
“The Neag School is high-achieving, but there are many ways to attain this [level of achievement],” Kohan says, adding that recruiting a broader spectrum of teacher education students could yield equally successful results for both Connecticut students and the state’s teacher administration.
Partnering With the Neag School
Since L.I.D.’s inception in 2014 the organization has filled its calendar with noteworthy events and activities. This past fall, L.I.D. members traveled to New Orleans to partake in the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) Conference. The representatives from UConn gave a presentation regarding how to “create a pipeline” for students of color in teacher preparation programs.
In addition, L.I.D. teamed up with Neag School faculty and administrators in November to host a Day of Learning, Leading, and Lighting the Way for Equity and Social Justice. The event was a professional development opportunity for students, faculty, and staff, featuring guest speakers Bree Picower of Montclair State University and Antonio Nieves Martinez of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Picower and Nieves Martinez led workshops on equity, social justice, and the art of creating inclusive environments in the classroom and beyond.
Bodick secured $2,000 in Undergraduate Student Government funding for the event, which the Neag School Dean’s Office matched. She says the event would not have been possible without cooperation between L.I.D. and the Neag School.
“It was definitely a student, faculty, and staff event,” Bodick says. “We’re working toward greater collaboration [with the Neag School]. This partnership is key to L.I.D.’s success.”
The organization’s next major project is a student-and-professional mentoring program. Educational professionals will mentor pre-teaching and current undergraduate students in the Neag School IB/M Program. Currently, L.I.D. has 47 practicing teachers, administrators, and University faculty and staff who have agreed to serve as mentors, and 40 student mentees. The mentoring program – called Diverse Educators Making Outstanding Change (D.E.M.O.) – kicked off last month with an event that offered participants an opportunity to discuss the goals of the program and engage in small-group dialogue over dinner.
“Once we set the groundwork for this program, we’ll have professional relationships we can continue and grow,” Lafayette says.
In seeking to grow their relationships with current teachers, L.I.D. members are also strengthening their connections with students at the elementary- and secondary-school level through student teaching. Bodick, an aspiring music teacher, began student teaching last fall. In high school, she was the bass player in the onstage band for the Broadway show “13 The Musical.” She says this experience gave her a nontraditional and more culturally relevant education in music, something she hopes to relay to her future students.
“I want to change the reality of music education,” she says, “and make it more relatable to students.”
CLAS Undergrad, Neag School Professor Selected for Funding on Collaborative Research Project
When Marissa Gadacy ’17 (CLAS) joined Neag School of Education assistant professor Devin Kearns in his research lab, she proposed exploring a relatively unchartered piece of the puzzle in elementary school students’ reading comprehension skills: spelling.
This fall, the Office of Undergraduate Research selected Gadacy and Kearns for one of its 2016 Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts Research Experience (SHARE) Awards, providing their proposed project with $2,000 in funding for use in their collaborative research this semester. The award is given each year to a selection of UConn undergraduate student-and-professor pairs who are conducting research together in the social sciences, humanities, or arts.
The study, titled “Longitudinal Examination of Children’s Polysyllabic Word Reading,” tests children’s development in reading multiple-syllable (polysyllabic) words and its effects on reading comprehension. Last year, Kearns concluded that second-graders’ reading comprehension related more to their polysyllabic word reading than reading for a variety of words on a standardized test. What Gadacy will add to the study in 2016 is an examination of whether students’ ability to spell words correctly impacts their reading comprehension.
Current student Marissa Gadacy and Neag School assistant professor Devin Kearns will collaborate on research examining aspects of elementary school students’ reading comprehension skills, thanks to funding from a UConn Office of Undergraduate Research SHARE Award.
Gadacy predicts that spelling will be related to reading comprehension, perhaps more so than reading, because it requires a number of additional skills. To test this hypothesis, Gadacy and Kearns will be designing and administering a spelling exam to third-graders this winter in more than 10 schools in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Gadacy admits that designing the test is a complex undertaking. Each of the test’s 20 to 40 words (ranging from two to four syllables each) must be selected from a large database that records how frequently specific words are used in elementary school textbooks. In selecting words for the test, the objective is to choose medium-frequency words – words that are familiar to students without being so recognizable that their spelling becomes obvious.
Kearns says he expects students to perform better in spelling words that occur more often and words that have spellings students could guess without knowing spelling rules. For example, “drips” is easy to spell because the letters say what students would expect. Words with ay and ai, however, are hard to spell without knowing a spelling rule. Both make the “a” sound, like in play and plain. Kearns explains that we spell “a” with ay at the end of words, and often ai elsewhere in the word.
“In some schools, children learn to spell by memorizing words,” he says. “That doesn’t build spelling skill as well as teach students well-established pattern like the ones for “a.”
Gadacy, a double major in psychology and human development and family studies, began working with Kearns last year because his work related to her interests in language development.
“I took a psychology of language course that taught me how people read and speak to each other, which I thought was extremely interesting and complex,” she says. Over the course of her time working in the research lab, Gadacy says she has progressed to working with study participants in schools and developing her own research ideas.
Even though her SHARE grant expires after the Fall 2016 semester, Gadacy says she will likely continue to perform undergraduate research. The Wallingford, Conn., native plans to pursue graduate school before beginning a career in psychology research or social work.
“She has worked hard and learned a great deal in a short time,” Kearns says. “I’m thankful to have her on my team and exited to work with her on the SHARE project.”
